Boating Superstitions: #1 No Bananas On Board
July 10, 2025
Why the superstitions?
The origins of these beliefs stem from early days at sea when sailors ventured into uncharted waters for fishing, trading and exploration. At a time when scientific explanations for the various dangers and phenomena were unknown, these mariners put faith in the greater powers to help guide their safe passage. Believing in superstitions was a way to have a sense of control, when so many important parts of their life were unpredictable.
With technology, experience and documentation, boating today is a much more understood and safe adventure. However, since these beliefs seemed to work for centuries, many boaters don’t want to mess with a good thing. Over the years, these myths and superstitions have continued to grow and some of the true origins have been lost to time. But it’s still fun to speculate on how these things become accepted. In the next weeks, we’ll take a look at some classic, and odd, superstitions to boat by.
No Bananas Allowed
This first superstition is perhaps the silliest, but also the most fun. Dating back to the 1700s, on trade routes between Spain and the Caribbean, spiders and snakes would often hide in crates of bananas. Since both can cause harmful and deadly bites, the fear was that having crates of bananas on board put the crew members at risk.
This troublesome fruit was also notorious for spoiling cargo during fruit trades. Before it was widely understood that bananas release ethanoyl, which speeds up the ripening process, bananas were responsible for rotting other fruits on board, and jeopardizing the ship’s cargo.
Courtesy Pacific Yachting
